As you may recall, yesterday s Dispatch covered a distorted, alarmist story on the harms of pesticides.
Will Westerling, a licensed Pest Control Advisor in the State of California, wrote in with his views.
As a licensed Pest Control Advisor in the State of California who manages several thousand acres of both conventional and organic fruits and vegetables I can assure you that there is no shortage of organic pesticides being applied to organic crops.
I spray the organic fields just as often as the conventional ones. In fact, for very high value delicate specialty crops I may spray them two or even three times a week.
Many of the organic pesticides I use in organic production I also use in the conventional fields.
Just because an organic pesticide comes from a naturally occurring source (bacteria, plant or mineral) does not mean it is not a pesticide.